Case Reviews

Sleuth Kings Case 023 Review

Jenny (jenjenreviews)Leave a comment

If you are looking for my complete walkthrough with hints and solutions, I have unfortunately not posted those yet. If not, please continue to the review.

Rating: 2/5 (Time spent: ~3 hours)

Subscription Description

Sleuth Kings is a monthly subscription that delivers fictional detective stories to your door. The premise for each case is that you have been contacted by Detective Sullivan King about a recent case that he has been hired for in which he needs your help. Each month you receive a manila envelope that contains:

  • Instructions on where to go to begin email interactions with Sullivan regarding the case
  • A list of the cases contents (so that you can check that you’ve received everything)
  • A case overview written by Sullivan
  • Approximately 4 clues
  • A Clue Analysis that describes the clues and how to approach each one. (Ignore this paper for an extra challenge)
  • Some additional material/props

Each case is its own story so unlike certain mystery subscriptions (like Hunt A Killer), you can solve the entire case in one sitting. Soon you will begin to receive emails from Sullivan involving his search for his missing father Isaac King and after completing 4 cases you will receive a bonus case regarding Isaac’s disappearance.

Case 023: (Premise)

Asuna Yukimura is the leader of the Young Detective’s Club at her school. When shopping with her mother at an estate sale, Asuna bought a $2 painting. She didn’t actually care much for the painting but rather the frame that it came in. This soon changed, however, when she opened the frame and out popped a letter and an eyepatch!

The letter congratulated Asuna for finding the hidden treasure map (located on the back of the painting) and presented her with her first challenge: four coded locations.

Ecstatic over her discovery, Asuna brought the items to her Young Detective’s Club and together they were able to decipher the codes, travel to these locations, and get the items needed to find the treasure.

This is when tragedy struck. Just when they thought they were on their way to an amazing discovery, another student, Hallie Burkett, caught wind of the treasure map and stole it! Asuna requests Sullivan’s (and your) help in finding the treasure before Hallie does.

Review (No Spoilers)

I feel the need to start off this review by saying that I absolutely hated this case; it was by far my least favorite Sleuth King’s case so far. My partner also feels the same way.

The story was pretty interesting but the clues were outrageously difficult–not necessarily in the way you think. My partner and I avoid looking at the Clue Analysis page when doing these cases for an extra challenge. After feeling stuck several times, we decided to look at it and it provided no additional help. We then decided to email Sullivan for help only to find that we had apparently already deciphered the Clues 1 and 2 properly, we just didn’t know.

Now, my partner and I have a rule that we try as hard as we can to keep the clues in their original condition. For this case (this may be a bit spoilery) this proved to be extremely time consuming to do so. It probably added around an hour to an hour and a half to our time.

In fact, after spending a very long time trying to do what we needed to do on a computer rather than with the clue itself, we decided that we needed to stop for the night because we were both extremely frustrated.

We picked up the next day and solved Clues 3 and 4 but using the answer that these clues gave us didn’t make any sense. Once again, we asked for help only to discover that we did in fact do everything properly and we still couldn’t figure it out.

In summary, the most frustrating thing about this case was realizing that we weren’t doing anything wrong, the clues were just poorly put together. What you have to do at the very end to find the location of the treasure basically was nonsense and I can only blame this on poorly designed clues. If you want to know what I’m talking about, feel free to ask me separately since It’s a spoiler.

I really hope that they up their game and fix this in the next case because I do otherwise enjoy working through these boxes.

Sleuth Kings Isaac Case 001 Review

Jenny (jenjenreviews)1 Comment

If you are looking for my complete walkthrough with hints and solutions, they will be posted soon! If not, please continue to the review.

Rating: 5/5 (Time Spent: 1 hour)

Subscription Description

Sleuth Kings is a monthly subscription that delivers fictional detective stories to your door. The premise for each case is that you have been contacted by Detective Sullivan King about a recent case that he has been hired for in which he needs your help. Each month you receive a manila envelope that contains:

  • Instructions on where to go to begin email interactions with Sullivan regarding the case
  • A list of the cases contents (so that you can check that you’ve received everything)
  • A case overview written by Sullivan
  • Approximately 4 clues (there is also a list describing the clues that you can read to help you get started or choose to ignore for an extra challenge)
  • Some additional material/props

Each case is its own story so unlike certain mystery subscriptions (like Hunt A Killer), you can solve the entire case in one sitting. Soon you will begin to receive emails from Sullivan involving his search for his missing father Isaac King and after completing 4 cases you will receive a bonus case regarding Isaac’s disappearance.

The clues come in the large envelope and the epilogue envelope is for after you solve the case.

Isaac Case 001: Find Chelsea Anderson (Premise)

By the time you receive this case in the mail, you should have already received several emails from Sullivan regarding his missing father. It all started when an anonymous informant left Sullivan a message that his father may still be alive.

This informant bases their information on the story of a woman named Chelsea Anderson. Chelsea claims that after Isaac King went missing, a man matching his description saved her life when she happened upon an illegal drug ring.

The informant successfully tracks Chelsea down but before they can ask her any questions she vanishes. Sullivan needs your help finding out Chelsea’s location so that he can (1) verify if his father is in fact still alive and (2) make sure she’s okay.

The items inside the case file.

Review (No Spoilers)

I cannot tell you how happy I was to discover that this case wasn’t a myth. When deciding on a mystery subscription package many of the reviews mentioned this bonus case. The reason I was skeptical was because no one bothered to mention that the package would be preceded by emails. As a result, I had started to wonder if the package had simply been replaced by bonus emails instead.

First off, a really nice thing about this bonus package and the emails is that at every step you are given a chance to refresh yourself on what has already been established. I have a bad memory so this was a particularly useful tool. If you have a better memory then you can just simply skip this part.

Okay! Let’s get to the actual case content. As usual, you are given a description of the case and a clear objective. My partner and I worked through this case in around an hour which is shorter than I would have liked but I actually thought the difficulty of the clues was pretty on point. In fact, I think that this might have been my favorite Sleuth Kings case so far!

I do want to be transparent and say that this might have to do with the fact that the last case I did (Case 005) had an error in one of the clues which left me very frustrated. That’s also the reason why I have been procrastinating on posting any blog posts about that case. I can happily announce that this case didn’t have any major flaws (there was a small typo in one of the letters that Sullivan wrote but like whatever).

Overall I was very satisfied with this case and I hope that the search for Sullivan’s father continues to be just as enjoyable. (Side Note: After we worked through this case, my partner also mentioned that he really liked this one in particular so A+ to Sleuth Kings!)

Sleuth Kings Introduction Case Review

Jenny (jenjenreviews)Leave a comment

Rating: 5/5

This small introduction is a lovely surprise for any new Sleuth King subscriber as long as you don’t expect too much from it.

Subscription Description

Sleuth Kings is a monthly subscription that delivers fictional detective stories to your door. The premise for each case is that you have been contacted by Detective Sullivan King about a recent case that he has been hired for in which he needs your help. Each month you receive a manila envelope that contains:

  • Instructions on where to go to begin email interactions with Sullivan regarding the case
  • A list of the cases contents (so that you can check that you’ve received everything)
  • A case overview written by Sullivan
  • Approximately 4 clues
  • A Clue Analysis that describes the clues and how to approach each one. (Ignore this paper for an extra challenge)
  • Some additional material/props

Each case is its own story so unlike certain mystery subscriptions (like Hunt A Killer), you can solve the entire case in one sitting. I am told that every 4 cases you receive a bonus case about finding Sullivan’s missing father. (So far I have not received this but I have received several bonus emails regarding his father.)

Case 000: Introduction (Premise)

When you first sign up to receive your Sleuth Kings subscription boxes, you should receive a small envelope in the mail before your first case arrives. Inside is a small card from Sullivan welcoming you to Sleuth Kings. In this card, he presents you with a link to a free introductory case designed to give you a sample of what your first case will hold.

Review (No Spoilers)

First of all I’d like to apologize for doing this out of order. I had honestly forgotten that we received this card until it fell out of the place I was storing all of our Sleuth Kings packages. Considering how short the case is, I do not plan on doing a walkthrough for this one (sorry!).

This case was overall a very nice and interesting introduction to the Sleuth Kings universe. Starting off with an email from Sullivan, you are presented with a list of tasks that you have to complete in a specific order in order to move on. Kind of like a scavenger hunt.

Now that I’ve completed several cases, I can say that this is NOT really how Sleuth Kings packages work. In full cases, you can work in whatever order you want but nevertheless I really enjoyed solving this introductory case.

The case probably took my partner and I around 15 minutes to complete so don’t expect too much of a challenge from it. It is really just intended to be a free sample rather than a full complementary package. As long as you don’t start this card with big expectations, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the little treat that it provides as much as I did!

Sleuth Kings Case 006 Review

Jenny (jenjenreviews)Leave a comment

If you are looking for my complete walkthrough with hints and solutions, click here! If not, please continue to the review.

Rating: 4/5

Subscription Description

Sleuth Kings is a monthly subscription that delivers fictional detective stories to your door. The premise for each case is that you have been contacted by Detective Sullivan King about a recent case that he has been hired for in which he needs your help. Each month you receive a manila envelope that contains:

  • Instructions on where to go to begin email interactions with Sullivan regarding the case
  • A list of the cases contents (so that you can check that you’ve received everything)
  • A case overview written by Sullivan
  • Approximately 4 clues (there is also a list describing the clues that you can read to help you get started or choose to ignore for an extra challenge)
  • Some additional material/props

Each case is its own story so unlike certain mystery subscriptions (like Hunt A Killer), you can solve the entire case in one sitting. I am told that every 4 cases you receive a bonus case about finding Sullivan’s missing father. (So far I have not received this but I have received several bonus emails regarding his father.)

Case 006: The Show Must Go On (Premise)

Sullivan is contacted by Eva Verde, who is putting on a play about a few kids who go to a cabin in the woods and accidentally conjure the spirit of a violent ghost named Smilin’ Jack.

The reason Eva has asked Sullivan for help is that her cast and crew are threatening to quit the show because they believe that the set is being haunted by the real Smilin’ Jack. Several props, posters, and photos have been defaced and threats have been made via letters and mysterious voices.

Eva (and Sullivan) do not believe the set is haunted and need your help in finding out who is behind the sabotage.

Review (No Spoilers)

I have done several Sleuth King cases with my partner (see other reviews) and this was probably the hardest one so far. My partner and I can normally solve these cases in 1 hour without referring to the Clue Sheet. For this case, we ended up using the Clue Sheet more than once and it took us an extra half hour.

One of the things that I had wanted for Case 004 was more of a challenge so it was a pleasant surprise that this one was harder. Unfortunately we hadn’t prepared for this so we although we were both pretty tired, we opened the case around 11:11PM (make a wish!) expecting to go to sleep at midnight. In reality, we ended up going to sleep around 1AM.

I enjoyed this case and its challenge, even if it made me very sleepy. The only complaint I have about it was that one of the clues required us to stare at a bunch of letters and perform a particularly annoying guess and check to get a password. As far as I know there was no better method of doing this.

Oh, I also almost forgot that there is a typo on the defaced script (Clue 3). At some point it should say STACY but it says ABBY. This didn’t effect anything other than our ability to understand what was happening in the scene.

I do have to say though. I was laughing throughout the entire case over the phrase “Fried Emo Vegans”. It still gets to me.

Stay tuned for more reviews of Sleuth Kings!

Sleuth Kings Case 004 Review

Jenny (jenjenreviews)Leave a comment

If you are looking for my complete walkthrough with hints and solutions, click here! If not, please continue to the review.

Rating: 3/5

Subscription Description

Sleuth Kings is a monthly subscription that delivers fictional detective stories to your door. The premise for each case is that you have been contacted by Detective Sullivan King about a recent case that he has been hired for in which he needs your help. Each month you receive a manila envelope that contains:

  • Instructions on where to go to begin email interactions with Sullivan regarding the case
  • A list of the cases contents (so that you can check that you’ve received everything)
  • A case overview written by Sullivan
  • Approximately 4 clues
  • A Clue Analysis that describes the clues and how to approach each one. (Ignore this paper for an extra challenge)
  • Some additional material/props

Each case is its own story so unlike certain mystery subscriptions (like Hunt A Killer), you can solve the entire case in one sitting. I am told that every 4 cases you receive a bonus case about finding Sullivan’s missing father. (So far I have not received this but I have received several bonus emails regarding his father.)

Case 006: Abraca-Debra (Premise)

Sullivan has been contacted by Debra Hartfield, who claims that she is being framed for the murder of her ex-boyfriend Rich Daughtry. Rich worked as a magician and Debra was his assistant/girlfriend–that is until she found out Rich got another girl pregnant while they were dating. Now, Rich has gone missing, the police assume he’s dead, and several pieces of evidence point in her direction.

The police have yet to find Rich’s body and Sullivan thinks it might just be what he needs to clear Debra’s name. He asks for your help in finding the body and any additional evidence that the police may have missed.

Review (No Spoilers)

First Impressions

This was the first Sleuth Kings mystery that my partner and I attempted to solve so neither of us really knew what to expect. The actual first case that we were scheduled to have delivered was Case 022 (reviewed separately) but when you sign up for an account, they email you a discount for Archive cases which we used to buy this one. That being said, I think both of us were extremely excited to being this new journey and we entered in this mystery with much enthusiasm.

What was delivered to us was a box so we expected the contents to be more…volumized? I’m not sure what the word I want is but we expected there to be larger objects, since the box was a good size. Unfortunately what’s inside the box is a simple manila envelope which is what actually contains the case material. I think the box is just for show.

We opened up the envelope and the first thing we noticed was that for some reason there are two instructions on how to start the case that are almost identical. I’m not sure why. My best guess is that they started with one form and decided to update it at a later point and as a result they now just have two? Who knows. My suggestion is to get rid of the (albeit cool looking) instructional paper and simply keep the smaller card-stock version that has the list of contents on the back.

Basically how this works is you go to a site (included in both instructions) to send Sullivan an email indicating that you are ready to begin. He responds with basically the exact same set of instructions that can be found in the “Final Thoughts” portion of the My Investigation paper. He tells you what he needs from you to successfully solve the case and what keywords to include in your emails so that he can know what you’re talking about.

The Case

We made our way through this case in approximately 1 hour (slightly less). This may have been in large part due to the Clue Analysis paper which basically told us exactly how to approach each clue. This was my main complaint.

I later found out–after doing another case where the instructions are slightly altered–that we could have skipped reading this paper to make the case more challenging. Unfortunately since this sentence wasn’t written for Case 004, we didn’t know that we could skip it. Not knowing much about how this subscription package worked, we had assumed that all papers were important in solving the mystery.

Additionally, I believe that one of our clues was made improperly. In the box is a few fake playing cards and one of them seems to have been printed upside down. This didn’t affect our ability to solve the case because we just had to flip it but knowing the orientation of that card was something that was kind of important for decoding one of the clues.

The last unfortunate setback is that Sullivan isn’t as “smart” as we would have hoped. By that I mean Sullivan is clearly some sort of email bot; we just thought that he was programmed to handle human interaction better. One of the reviews that my partner and I read online seemed to suggest that Sullivan actually responds to things you say (this review mentioned Sullivan no longer being upset at being called silly nicknames). I discovered during this case that this reviewer was probably just making a joke.

For example, one of the instructions Sullivan tells you is that when you finally solve the case, you should include the word “solution” in your email to him. My partner–hoping to get a real life sort of vibe from these emails–sent out an email that said “The solution isn’t what you think! *answer written here*“. Unfortunately, Bot Sully could not understand this email and responded with some random hint to a clue that we had already solved. After that we decided to just keep our emails as basic as possible (E.g. A reply that simply states “solution *insert solution*“). This took away from the fun immersive experience.

Overall, I am optimistic about this subscription. We are signed up for a prepaid 6 month subscription so we have a lot more to experience! Stay tuned for more reviews and walkthroughs!